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unless it was to go to war with any Power with whom we
disagreed. . . .
" The right hon. Gentleman has made some allusions to
the various international conversations which have recently
taken place, and I would like to touch upon those, and to
begin with the visit of the Lord President of the Council to
Germany. I have already told the House that the conversa-
tions which took place between the Lord President (Lord
Halifax) and the German Chancellor and various prominent
Germans were of a confidential character, and I am sure that
hon. Members would not wish rne to say anything which might
be considered as a breach of the understanding upon which
those conversations took place, but I may perhaps make one or
two general observations which would supplement what has
already been said upon this subject. It was never the expecta-
tion or the intention of His Majesty's Government that those
conversations should produce immediate results. They were
conversations, and not negotiations, and, therefore, in the
course of them no proposals were made, no pledges were given,
no bargains were struck. What we had in mind as our object,
and what we achieved, was to establish a personal contact
between a member of His Majesty's Government and the
German Chancellor, and to arrive, if possible, at a clearer
understanding on both sides of the policy and outlook of
the two Governments.
" I think I may say that we now have a fairly definite idea
of the problems which, in the view of the German Govern-
ment, have to be solved if we are to arrive at that condition of
European affairs which we all desire, and in which nations
might look upon one another with a desire to co-operate
instead of regarding each other with suspicion and resentment.
If we are to arrive at any such condition as that, obviously it
cannot be achieved by a bargain between two particular
countries. This is rather to be considered, as we did consider
it, as a first step towards a general effort to arrive at what
has sometimes been called a general settlement, to arrive at
a position, in fact, when reasonable grievances maybe removed,
when suspicions may be laid aside, and when confidence may
again be restored. That obviously postulates that all those
who take part in such an effort must make their contribution